Broken But Still Good
by ZeGreatM
Summary: Hiro wants nothing more than to go back home with his brother and have everything be normal again. But this whole mess is his fault and he knows it. And to make things worse, even after how hard he'd tried to hide it, all the sneaking and the hiding he'd done, Tadashi knows it too. Maybe he didn't want to see his brother again after all. (Family of Two AU fic) (One-shot)
AN: Another old-ish fic, but I am slightly more happy with this one. Takes place in the FoT!AU, specifically based on the headcanon created by murphystarr on tumblr that Hiro gets taken away from Tadashi after social services finds out about his bot-fighting. I hope you enjoy, and reviews and the like are super appreciated! :D

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Hiro pressed his face up against the window,watching the world go by at what felt like a snail's pace.

 _Can't this car go any faster?_ He wondered, gripping the edge of the window so hard his knuckles turned white.

They'd had to make the visitation for 5:00 in the evening so Tadashi could make it after work. Hiro had tried to keep himself busy during the day, but the wait had nearly killed him. He would sit down to work on his homework or tinker on a project, but find himself unable to do anything except stare at the clock hanging over his tiny desk. And stare. And stare some more. Until he was ready to drive himself back to his and Tadashi's apartment and forget waiting.

"You doing alright back there, Hiro?"

Hiro's gaze darted to the rearview mirror, where he could see Mr. Mamoru's eyes peering curiously back at him. He gave the anxious boy a warm smile that Hiro gave a weak attempt at returning.

"Yeah," He muttered, looking quickly back at the scenery rushing past him. If he remembered right, the park was somewhere on this street. They'd be there any minute.

Of course, he could be wrong. He hadn't been to this park since he was little, back when his mom and dad were still alive. After the accident, Tadashi was always too busy to take him. But that might have changed eventually, except that Hiro had messed everything up. He just had to go to that last bot-fight. He told himself they needed the money, that no cops were going to come. Boy, was he ever wrong.

Blinking away the burn in his eyes, he crossed his arms over his chest. He was tired of messing up. There was no way he was ever going to...

The gentle squeaking of brakes and the swift turn of the car broke through Hiro's thoughts. He sat up as far as he could, seat belt snapping against his chest in protest. There was the rusty old playground equipment, the two swings, the park bench... And Tadashi.

Hiro unbuckled his seatbelt and put his hand in the door handle.

"What are you doing?!" Mr. Mamoru demanded as the door swung open. He pressed his foot down on the brake, but Hiro had already jumped out.

"Give us a minute!" Hiro shouted as he ran down the parking lot. He leaped over the curb, heart racing,breath coming in short gasps.

Tadashi looked away from the playground he had been aimlessly staring at towards the commotion. When he saw the short figure stampeding towards him, nearly tripping over his shoelaces, hoodie flapping in the breeze, messy hair flipped out of his face, he turned completely around.

Hiro ran straight into the open arms of his brother. The force of his landing nearly knocked Tadashi over. He planted his green Converse a little firmer in the grass, letting out a strangled chuckle.

"Hey,Hiro." He choked past Hiro's stranglehold on his neck. Hiro responded by gripping his brother even tighter and burying his face into Tadashi's shoulder.

They held onto each other for a moment, soaking in the other's company that they had both missed so desperately over the last two weeks.

Tadashi pulled away from the embrace to speak and to catch his breath.

"So, how's it been?" He asked with a smile. Hiro shrugged, keeping a tight grip on Tadashi's shoulders and his gaze on the ground.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tadashi demanded. He tried to get a look into Hiro's face, but his black mane of hair kept it hidden.

"N-nothing," Hiro stammered. Tadashi's eyes narrowed as he watched his younger brother chew nervously on his lower lip.

"If the Mamoru's haven't been treating you right..." He said, beginning to rise from his position on the grass with steely eyes set on the Mamoru's car.

"Nonono, they have!" Hiro protested. He pulled his brother back down before he could finish getting up."They've been really good to me, I swear."

Hiro had finally looked up. Tadashi could see the honesty in his eyes, though his focus was more on the tears that were swiftly filling them.

"Then what's wrong?" Tadashi asked, brow furrowed in concern.

Hiro shook his head silently and blinked away the moisture.

The last thing Tadashi wanted to do was push his little brother and make him angry. Not after everything he'd been through already. So he decided let Hiro's unwillingness to speak slide.

"Why haven't they come out here?" He asked, gesturing to where Mr. Mamoru and the social worker waited in their cars.

"I told them to give us a minute."

Tadashi smirked."You told them, huh? Didn't ask nicely or anything like that?"

Hiro glanced back up at his brother, a smiling lifting his lips. "I told them as nicely as I could."

Tadashi snorted. "Yeah, of course you did."

He looked quietly into the face of his younger brother for a moment, wanting to tease him about how long his hair had gotten and tell him that he looked taller or ask him why he looked so tired. But he didn't say any of this.

"The apartment sure is quiet without you." He muttered.

Hiro's smile disappeared. He sighed heavily, removing his hands from Tadashi's shoulders and shoving them into the pockets of his hoodie. He glanced up at Tadashi through his thick eyelashes.

"Yeah, well,life pretty much stinks without you."

These words felt like a punch to the gut. Tadashi swallowed, unable to wrench his gaze away from his little brother's sad eyes.

"Hiro... I am so sorry. After everything you've been through, I should have, I should have tried harder. I should have known what you were doing, I should have done-"

"Stop, Tadashi." Hiro's quiet but firm voice silenced the flow of words. He looked away from his brother again.

"None of this is your fault." He whispered. Tadashi blinked.

"Hiro, don't be ridicu-"

"I'm not!" Hiro exclaimed, gaze shooting back up to his brother's. "The only reason I got taken away is because of how, how stupid I am."

"Wait a minute." Tadashi held up a hand to silence him. Hiro acted like he didn't even hear him.

"I could have stopped going bot-fighting and none of this would have happened. I could have! But I liked it. It was fun and exciting, and it gave us some extra income. I thought I could dodge the police, I thought I could keep you from finding out. I didn't want to stop..."

Hiro grabbed two fistfuls of his hair, his face twisted with emotion.

"Everything fell apart so fast. I, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to tell you, but then police came and..."

His voice broke. A tear ran down his cheek followed swiftly by a second. He bit down on his lip, struggling to control himself. He hadn't planned on breaking down like this. But he really hadn't slept much the past two weeks, and this nightmare really was all his fault...

Before Hiro realized what was happening, Tadashi wrapped his arms around his little brother and pulled him back to his chest.

Hiro tried to pull away, but Tadashi's hold on him was too tight.

"What are you doing?" Hiro questioned.

"I'm not letting you do that." Came Tadashi's muffled reply.

"Do what?!"

Why did his brother have to be so confusing sometimes?

"I'm not letting you blame yourself."

Hiro snorted out a laugh. "It's all my fault! Who else do you want me to blame?"

"No one."

Tadashi pulled away just enough to look Hiro in the eyes. They were red-rimmed, confused, angry, guilty.

"It was my fault too."

Hiro opened his mouth to protest, but one look from Tadashi kept him quiet.

"You might have been the one to do the actual bot-fighting, but I'm your legal guardian. More importantly, I'm your big brother. I should have done whatever it took to get you to stop. Even if it meant me losing a couple nights of sleep or taking a few days off of work. So you can't take all of the blame on yourself."

Hiro's wide eyes stared into Tadashi's, a thousand emotions flitting across his face. After a moment, he heaved a shuddering sigh and nodded.

"I guess you're right." He whispered.

A grin lifted the corners of Tadashi's mouth.

"Of course I am, knucklehead." He said, vigorously rubbing his fist on the top of Hiro's hair. Hiro shoved his hand away, a faint smile growing on his face.

The sound of two car doors slamming shut turned the brother's attention to the approaching forms of Mr. Mamoru and the social worker. Their time was almost up.

"Are we going to have to do this forever?" Hiro asked quietly. His pleading gaze burned into his brother.

"No," Tadashi replied confidently. "There's no way I'm going to let them keep you forever. But we're going to have to wait a little while to get everything figured out. You think you can do that?"

Hiro nodded. "I won't give up on you if you won't give up on me."

Tadashi chuckled. "Sounds like a plan to me."

The two brothers rose up from the ground, ready to take on whatever challenges in front of them and willing to wait as long as it took for their family of two to be restored.


End file.
